Dr Mike Stroud, Chair of BAPEN’s Quality Improvement Committee, has set up an e-petition calling for the Government to act to eliminate avoidable malnutrition and dehydration. Mike, who previously chaired the NICE guidance development group on nutrition support in adults and who now chairs their development group on IV fluids, is working with the Nutrition & Hydration Action Alliance on this petition which needs 100,000 signatures from healthcare professionals, patients and the general public. The Government will then need to help facilitate a debate on the issue in the House of Commons.

Malnutrition and dehydration are both a cause and consequence of illness costing the NHS £billions annually. Nevertheless, standards of relevant care in hospital and social settings are frequently poor. The government needs to take priority action to identify and treat malnutrition and dehydration wherever possible, action which must go beyond Andrew Lansley’s public commitment to deliver better nutritional care in hospitals. The petition therefore calls for:

A Government Minister to take personal responsibility for this area;

The DH to appoint a National Clinical Director for Nutrition and Hydration to lead quality improvement and develop a national malnutrition strategy;

Public Health England to focus on malnutrition in an early awareness campaign;

The DH to make training in nutritional care a key objective for the new Health Education England Board; and

The National Commissioning Board to develop clear outcome measures to monitor prevalence of these problems and quality of care